Becoming Darkness
by Darkfire359
Summary: The darklings haven't given up on the idea of Rex becoming a halfling. And they are far from defeated. Post Blue Noon, no OCs. At least, no human OCs.
1. Chapter 1

December 19th, 11:42 a.m.

Dess quickly finished her trigonometry homework, the only effort being writing. Of course, she didn't even have to write that much. She was still Mr. Sanchez's favorite student. And if he gave her anything below a 95% on an assignment, she would simply release the truth about his little smoking habit.

Currently, she was in study hall. Although she hated to admit it, it was kind of lonely without Jessica. And Jonathan. And even Melissa. It was just her and Rex. But she couldn't talk to him about math unless she wanted him to have a spazz attack. Which meant she was alone. Alone, with only her numbers to comfort her.

Dess got up, the quiet simply too much to bear. It had been over a month since Samhain, but she still wasn't used to the unbearable silence of her current existance.

Walking out of the library 173 seconds before the lunch bell would ring to dismiss them, she walked over to Rex's science class. Personally, Dess loved science. It was the real-world application of math. Sure, it didn't kick butt as much as Dessometrics, but it was still awesome. She remembered that Rex used to love it too. Now, especially since it was currently the technology unit, he hated it.

Everything seemed to have changed now. Rex, the midnighters, and the blue time itself. She recalled a comforting concept; once a mathematical proof has been proven, it will never be unproven. Math didn't change. Dess felt like a proof. The lives of all her friends had drastically changed, but she was in exactly the same position as when the school year started. The bell rang.

-----

Rex exited his science classroom the moment it was dismissed. He felt especially irritated after having a lecture on alloys. Clever humans with their clever metals.

"Hi, Rex," Dess interrupted his thoughts.

"Hi," he replied, walking towards the lunchroom.

"So," she said, trying to make conversation, "winter break is coming up. Any plans?"

"I was hoping to get Melissa and the others to come back and give us a status update. You know, without phones."

"Yeah," Dess replied, smiling, "you want Melissa and 'the others' to come back 'for a status update'. Of course. You know, they're sending me the coordinates of they went, and it makes for some fascinating data."

"Is math ever not fascinating for you?" he said as they came into the lunchroom and sat down at their far-too-empty lunch table.

"Nope. But seriously, according to Jonathan and Melissa, the blue time is spreading across the 36th parallel, but it extends less than a tenth of a degree in longitude. Meanwhile, places where the 36th parallel intersects a longitude that is a multiple of 12 have a Midnight about the same size as Bixby's."

"Hmm," Rex said, trying to sound interested as he ate his sandwich. Dess noticed his boredom, and feeling exceptionally social tody, changed the subject.

"Have you found any interesting new lore?" Rex looked up.

"You're actually interested in lore?"

"Yeah," she replied, "I rant about math often enough."

"Well," he said, smiling an evil grin no doubt due the excitement from his own rant, "I have had the chance to visit a lot of lore sites recently. The darklings barely come out since Samhain. And its not just around me. There is literally no focus from within the past month. But the focus from the lore is as strong as ever. There's so much new information. So many precious details from Midnight's history." He flicked his tongue, something that Dess had learned indicated excitement.

"Wait," she said, "Are the darklings all gone?"

"No. They're still there, just not coming out. Maybe its like you said; they sleep for most of the day, after all. They were all up at once for Samhain, and now they're napping it off."

"Hmm. Just be careful when you're out at the lore sites, okay? You never know when they might strike."

"I will be."

Author's Note: Sorry about the angst in the beginning. I don't think it will be like that in future chapters.


	2. Chapter 2

As much as Rex tried to be careful, it was hard to resist a peaceful night of reading lore especially without having to wear that accursed metal with its horrible 13-letter names. Rex was of course to so negligent that he went out without some kind of protection, but he had less of it, and had left most at his camp site, which was only about a quarter mile from the lore site.

He expected no trouble. After all, the darklings were holed up in their caverns. Even if they weren't, he was a fellow predator.

So it came as a surprise when Rex saw a fairly large group of slithers flying overhead. He began to walk back to camp, still not really expecting an attack from the descending creatures.

Then, their formation parted, revealing three giant hawk-like darklings. Rex broke into a run, and the enormous hawks flew after him.

They were gaining distance, and the rough terrain kept Rex from running at his fastest. He unhooked a metal band from his feet, wincing as he touched the metal.

"Bacteriologic!" he named it, stumbling as he threw it. All of his weapons were double-edged swords.

The birdlike darkling was hit it the wing, sending a shower of blue sparks into the trees around it. Its flight slowed, but the two others quickly passed it, leaving Rex in essentially the same position as before.

He looked at the darklings closing in on him, and then back at the camp. He wouldn't make it. So Rex stood his ground, and stopped fleeing like prey. Rex let out the most primal growl he could muster, hoping that they would halt their advance. They didn't.

The first hawk dove at his arm, and Rex punched it, something he hadn't tried before. The darkling bit his finger.

"Ouch!" he cried, cradling his hand as he tried to rub the pain away. In those few moments of distraction, he was surrounded.

"What do you want?"

You, came the mental reply.

Rex felt talons enclose his arms, then was surprised to feel midnight gravity course through him. So Jonathan wasn't as unique as he thought.

Do not struggle. The fall would be painful, and we would only pick you up again.

Rex looked up at the blue moon in the sky. As long as it had seemed, Midnight was less than 10 minutes through. He was once again the darklings' prisoner.

The hawk-like darklings eventually dropped him in front of a cave deep in the badlands.

Go, the lead hawk commanded.

"No," Rex replied. He doubted they would be able to carry him through the cavern's narrow tunnels, and he sure wasn't going willingly.

The seer looked up again. Still 40 minutes to go. Stalling wasn't the best option, but it was the only one he had.

Yet they didn't seem to mind. The hawks merely formed a semicircle around him, as if they were waiting for something. Which they probably were.

Sure enough, a jet-black horse-shaped darkling came out. He couldn't help but laugh. Did they really expect him to ride it?

But his laughter turned to fear when the horse sprouted tentacles, forcibly binding him to its back.

Great, he thought.

Despite the oddness of the situation, Rex was soon carried deep within the Earth, with no escape attempts possible. In addition to numerous darklings present and highly confusing passageways, Rex was nearly blind here. Not even the light from the blue moon penentrated this place.

Soon, he felt the tenticles unravel themselves. Rex dropped to the floor, but stood immediately, not wanting to appear weak.

Rex stood there for a minute. Then two minutes. Nothing happened.

So... they had gone to all the trouble of kidnapping him, only to just leave him here?

Rex reached his hands out in front of him, then stepped forward. Only to immediately fall into a pool of water. At least, he originally assumed it was water. The liquid was thicker, like the substance that coated his wings after his transformation. But it was far less sticky. Almost like blood. But it didn't smell like blood either.

Whatever it was, Rex wanted to get out of it. He tried to climb back onto the ledge he fell off of, but the sides were too slippery. It was also impossible to get a foothold. Rex slid back down into the unknown substance.

Although it was clearly deeper than Rex was tall, it was dense enough that Rex wouldn't sink. He carefully felt his way around the ledge, and eventually discovered that it was surrounded on all sides. Whatever he did, the darklings knew he would fall in eventually.

However, upon further investigation, he found that widely-spaced stepping stones led away from the ledge, so the tenticled horse-creature would be able to get across. Knowing that was how he came in, Rex followed them, and managed to swim back to the dry cave floor.

Now came the hard part. He had absolutely no idea which way it was to the surface. What if he was still in here when the sun came up? Would he be trapped forever? At this point the blue time was probably over. But when it came back, he had no doubt the darklings would keep him here.

Rex ran over his options. He could a. Wander randomly to get out. or b. Wait here for someone to find him. Neither was a good option, but given that Dess had no idea that he was even here, the first was significantly better.

So again, Rex put his hands in front of him, this time sliding his feet as well. He walked forward until he came to a cave wall. He felt the ground slanting up, so he continued to travel in the direction of the slight slant. Although it was some progress, he had a feeling this would be a long day.


End file.
